Author's note: I wrote that story as an anniversary gift for my dear friend, Bebec. She choose the following prompt on Tumblr and I have to admit that it very much inspired me. Bebec loves stories with lots of angst and emotions so there's gonna be a lot of that in this short story. Happy birthday Babe! I adore you!

PS: This story has not been Beta-read because I am giving my Beta a well-deserved break from all the work she has been doing for me. So you can expect to find a few errors, hopefully not too much.

Prompt:

Following an explosion at the LAPD precinct the Goddess of creation (in the body of Charlotte Richards) gets stuck together with Lucifer and his humans. When she realizes Lucifer got badly hurt in the process she shows an unexpectedly maternal side. (set sometime during S2, Bonus for her using a cute childhood nickname)

It was 6:30 am, way too early to be already back at the precinct, if you asked him. At least, he'd taken the time to get fresh cups of coffee for everyone at the Starbuck so he wouldn't have to suffer the dishwater from the coffee machine. Never mind that the main raison for his detour to buy it had been to put a smile on her face. It was as if his main goal in life lately was to make his detective smile. Those moments were way too rare since he came back from Vegas a few weeks ago. He had no one to blame but himself for that fact really, and he knew it perfectly. But he had done what he had to to give her back her freedom. She would undoubtedly get over him with time, even if he doubted that he would ever be able to do the same. Once she did, everything would hopefully get back to normal between them. In the meantime, he could only work his ass off to regain her trust and friendship.

Things had been painfully awkward between them since his return. They hadn't quite known how to behave with each other. It was already a wonder that she had taken him back as her partner. He knew he shouldn't ask for more than that right now, and maybe to be able to draw a smile on her face from time to time, such as the shy one she gave him just a minute ago when he handed her her favorite latté. His heart was still swelling with happiness at the memory.

The arrival of the Douche brought Lucifer back to the present. He had again forgotten about him. He was almost always around lately, working with them as a third wheel. Another sign that his detective still didn't trust him completely to be there for her when it counted.

The Douche noticed their coffees and lightened up. "Is there one left for me?"

"Sorry pal, I forgot you were to be there." Lucifer could not hide a small smile of satisfaction for his oversight when he saw the way Daniel grimaced for having been left out.

He saw Daniel stretch his neck to peek into the adjacent opened room where Charlotte was talking in hushed tones with her client. Count on his Mother to be the one to represent their killer. As always when she was in the vicinity, Daniel fidgeted in place, trying his best to hide the fact that he was glad to see her. But it was plain as day for Lucifer, and for Chloe too apparently who was smiling knowingly behind her ex's back.

Now that they were all there, Chloe briefed them for what was to come. Taking that opportunity to distract Daniel from his straying thoughts.

"As I already told you yesterday, the Anti-gang unit shouldn't be here for another 30 minutes. But I wanted us to be here sooner because Charlotte insisted on talking to her client before we moved him, and I also wanted to make sure we were ready when they arrived. This is a very important case and I don't want any craziness today."

Why did she have to look at him when she said that? As if Lucifer didn't know it was an important case and that he was used to get them into trouble. Well, maybe he was, when you thought about it, but it was rude to point it out.

"And Lucifer, I want you to wear a bulletproof vest today. I'll accept no discussion about it," she added, as he opened his mouth to complain. He closed it hastily, knowing too well that it was futile to try to argue with her.

That's when he observed that she was already wearing her vest. Good! She would be safer. It was bad enough that she had to be there at all. He had tried to convince her that he could escort their killer-turned into a witness alone, but of course she would insist on being there for the whole thing. He sighed internally. He hated seeing her put herself in danger. Yet, he could do nothing about it but be there to protect her.

They knew very well that the Mafia would do everything in their power to eliminate their henchman. The detective and he had had the bad idea of catching one of their assassins, Damon Phillips, after he had killed a man under the order of the Mafia gang leader, Marco Saputo. Phillips had spilled out everything he knew the moment Lucifer flashed his hellish fiery eyes at him, while Chloe had her back turned away. Afterwards, Lucifer convinced him that making amends for his wrongdoings would help him avoid Hell and start winning his place in Heaven. He'd accepted willingly to act as a witness to try and take down the Mafia leader as proof of his determination to become a better man. In return, he made Lucifer swear to protect him from his former boss. The knowledge that Hell awaited him if he died now, before having the chance to redeem his soul, had almost rendered him witless.

So, that's how they all ended up this early in the basement of the precinct, waiting for the witness to be transferred to a secured hideaway where he would stay until the trial. Afterwards, he would be taken into a witness protection program.

From the room where they were waiting, a corridor led to a flight of stairs leading outside by a back door, from which they would be able to get their witness out without attracting unwanted attention.

To their surprise, Detective Williams, the second in charge of the case with the Anti-gang unit arrived alone a few minutes later.

"Where is Detective Parker and the escort?" Asked Chloe.

"Don't worry! They're coming. I just had a hard time sleeping last night so I decided to come in early." He put down his suitcase and retrieved a file inside.

Chloe understood too well the nervousness that such a case could cause, even more so for a young man like Williams who couldn't be older than 25. She herself had difficulty falling asleep last night at the prospect of all the things that could go wrong today.

Williams started going over the plan, detailing dutifully every step to insure they would bring their witness safe and sound to his destination. Once Chloe finished asking all her questions about the program, Williams excused himself to go to the bathroom. Chloe smiled at his retreating back. The poor boy was clearly nervous, and she couldn't blame him. Even seasoned detectives would be nervous to be involved in that kind of operation.

Lucifer watched Chloe and Dan go join Charlotte and their witness in the other room. Their private conversation was apparently over and they were certainly waiting to be brought up to date about the events to come.

Lucifer hadn't moved to follow them though. He looked back suspiciously towards the corridor Detective Williams had just taken. There was a strange vibe in the air. A kind of stillness he couldn't explain. The boy was clearly nervous, too nervous one would say, when he was usually more composed, from what Lucifer had seen of him so far at least. His gaze came to rest on Williams' closed suitcase left on the central table. In his mind, he replayed the moment the agent had opened it up. Come to think of it, he had acted as if he was hiding its content from their eyes. Suspicion turned rapidly into a terrifying certainty.

Lucifer screamed her name and made eye contact with her to infuse all the seriousness of the situation. "Chloeeee! Close the door and get everyone down! NOW"

Eyes widening with surprise and the sudden rush of adrenaline, Chloe understood that they were in real danger. She was more than reluctant to leave her partner alone to face whatever it was that was threatening them, but after as long as they had worked together, she could only trust him when it came to a life and death situation like this one. So with one last look at his pleading eyes, she closed the door in a rush before getting down and commanding the others to take cover. Taking her gun out of its holster, she prayed that she would not have to regret that decision for the rest of her life.

Once sure that Chloe was doing what he'd told her to do, Lucifer grabbed the big wooden table and toppled it on its side to protect himself and the door Chloe was just closing. The suitcase flew off in the opposite direction and landed in front of the corridor leading outside. At that moment, a strange beeping sound came from the suitcase. Two seconds later, it blew up in a deafening roar. Another explosion shook up the building mere seconds after on the upper floor.

Lucifer was propelled forcefully backwards against the door in a maelstrom of concrete blocks, wood splinters, and dust. The impact took his breath away. A searing pain to the head overwhelmed almost all his senses, blurring his vision and dimming out all noises around. He was barely aware of the deep pain coursing through his chest and pretty much his entire body.

When the floor stopped shaking, he noticed that it had become pitch black around him. After a moment, he saw a soft light move towards him. Soon, someone was leaning over his body and he started feeling hands stroking gently his face and neck. It was hard to tell who it was with that strange liquid running over his eyes and impairing his vision even more than it already was. After blinking a few times, he recognised her.

Chloe! She was alive! He had done it, he had protected her. He smiled with relief at the realisation.

His Mother, Dan, and their witness were probably alright too. Good. He didn't want to fail his word to the witness, even if he was a damn killer, and he was also relieved that his Mom would be ok. The thought of her going back to Hell was strangely unbearable. As for the Douche, well, he wouldn't mind for him to still be alive. He was an entertaining guy.

Chloe's features were all tensed. She was apparently trying to talk to him but he couldn't hear anything with the buzzing in his ears. And were those tears in her haunted eyes? But why would she cry? Had she been hurt after all? He tried to talk and tell her that everything would be ok, that he would get her out of here. However, to his greatest amazement, instead of words, only bubbling blood came out of his mouth with a coughing fit he couldn't control. The coughing was incredibly painful and at the same time it increased the pain in his head tenfold. He moaned in utter agony. The last time he felt that much pain was at the time of his Fall. The world blurred around him with the intensity of the pain until it became unbearable even for him. He welcomed the darkness that took over his consciousness and stopped his suffering.

Author's note: Next chapter is already written, so it won't be very long before I release it. Thanks for reading. Please let me know if you enjoyed it.